Md. Ave. Car Dealer Raided During Investigation

By Libo Liu, 500 block of 14th Street NE

On any given day, Walter Anderson is an amiable and happy person.

Having worked as a mechanic for over 10 years and for quite some time at
the Chandler's II Car Repair Shop at 628 14th St. NE, Mr. Anderson knows the
auto trade well and has the skill to be a good mechanic.

Lately, though, he hasn't been that happy.

It all started about two months ago, when Mr. Anderson and his wife were
shopping for a used car for her at QX Cars and Trucks, 1400 Maryland Ave. NE.
They found a good looking one with sound mechanics. The price of $3,700 wasn't too
bad for what it was, though they could not come up with the whole amount.
Nevertheless, they liked the car so much that they paid a big portion of the bill and took
the car without the title. The Andersons understood that they had to pay off the
balance before the dealer would turn over the title to them.

Over the last two months, the Andersons worked hard and paid down a total
of $3,500 towards the purchase. Last week, when they gathered $200 and went to
the dealer to pay off the balance and get the title, something
unexpected happened. The dealer told the Andersons that all
titles for the cars the dealer had been taken away by the police.

According to a press release by D.C. Police, QX Cars
and Trucks was raided on Tuesday, Aug. 19, by the Focused
Mission Team of the D.C. Police, assisted by several federal
agencies, in connection with an ongoing investigation into the
sale and transfer of fraudulently issued and altered temporary
registration tags. Search warrants on five other car dealers in
Northeast were also executed by the police task force.

These car dealers were allegedly profiting from
illegally issuing the 30-day temporary registration tags to cars that
were stolen, could not pass inspection or did not have insurance.

According to Mr. White at the call center of the D.C.
Department of Motor Vehicles, a 30-day temporary tag can
only be issued to a car that has just been bought or to a car that
has just passed the expiration date of regular registration but
failed an inspection. The 30-day temporary tag can only be
issued once to the same car and cannot be renewed. Also, an
owner must present the title, driver license and proof of valid
insurance to have such a temporary title issued.

The DMV, besides issuing the temporary tags to car
owners directly, also sends a licensed car dealer up to 10 such
paper tags at a time, so the dealer can issue a temporary tag to
a car that has just been sold there. The dealer is required to
send the paperwork of a sales transaction to the DMV for
processing and within five to 10 days receive a regular hard plate
from the DMV for its customer.

But Regina Williams, spokeswoman for the DMV, told
the Corner Forum that some of the dealers that are under
investigation allegedly issued such paper tags without sending
the required paperwork to the DMV. She said some dealers
have deliberately sent in fraudulent information to cover up
their dealings. She also said some of paper tags were
counterfeited, perhaps being printed out by laser printers. Ms. Williams
said the DMV is working on how to make paper tags more
difficult to counterfeit and also working more closely with the
police and the Department of Public Works. She called on citizens
to help deal with the problem as well.

I visited QX Cars and Trucks on Thursday and Friday.
The managers declined to be interviewed for this story.

The Focused Mission Team of D.C. Police also declined
a request from the Corner Forum to provide detailed
information on the current investigation but said, "It is up to the
district attorney's office to decide whether any charges will
be filed against those car dealers."

Meanwhile, Mr. Anderson was told by the dealer that
the title of his wife's car could be available by next Wednesday
or Thursday.

"If we can't get the title, we may have to file a suit with
the small claim's court to get our money back," Mr. Anderson
said reluctantly.